Playoff hockey shows what this Maple Leafs season was lacking

{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/playoff-hockey-shows-maple-leafs-025717466.html","headline":"Playoff hockey shows what this Maple Leafs season was lacking","datePublished":"2026-04-28T02:57:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-28T02:57:17.000Z","keywords":["Toronto Maple Leafs","Auston Matthews","Radko Gudas","Sidney Crosby"],"description":"Toronto is watching from home.","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Yahoo Sports","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://s.yimg.com/cv/apiv2/default/icons/favicon_y112_112.png","width":112,"height":112},"url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/"},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Heyen","url":"","jobTitle":""},"creator":{"@type":"Person","name":"Billy Heyen","url":"","jobTitle":""},"provider":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Sporting News","url":"https://www.sportingnews.com/us","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":571,"height":100,"url":"https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2025-07/afbd81b0-569a-11f0-bbf3-fe4a286db1d0"}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/IO5mn5Kd436M7_CxI_Nd4g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTE1MjA7aD04NTQ7Y2Y9d2VicA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_sporting_news_articles_584/1738cd0a0a2b3766967590b74eacf218","height":427,"width":760},"thumbnailUrl":"https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/IO5mn5Kd436M7_CxI_Nd4g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTE1MjA7aD04NTQ7Y2Y9d2VicA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_sporting_news_articles_584/1738cd0a0a2b3766967590b74eacf218"}Story byPlayoff hockey shows what this Maple Leafs season was lackingBilly HeyenTue, April 28, 2026 at 2:57 AM UTC·1 min readPlayoff hockey shows what this Maple Leafs season was lacking originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.If the Toronto Maple Leafs have playoff hockey on at home, hopefully they're noticing what they were missing this season.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_63iudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: none; } @media screen and (max-width: 767.95px) { #_R_63iudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }In a word: fight.It's impossible to miss in the postseason. It feels like almost every play ends with players pushing and shoving and grabbing.Occasionally, that leads to actual drop-the-gloves fighting, but often, it's simply about not backing down.Too often this season, the Maple Leafs backed down.The big example was when Radko Gudas delivered a questionable knee-to-knee hit on Auston Matthews that subsequently ended the captain's season.At the time of the hit, there was no major moment of coming to Matthews' defense. The Leafs kind of just let it happen.But it was bigger picture than that, too. It had to be for this season in Toronto to be so poor.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement#_R_6biudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: none; } @media screen and (max-width: 767.95px) { #_R_6biudcaanpfiv65bH1_ { display: flex; } iframe { max-width: 100vw; } }MORE: A scene that sums up Sidney Crosby and the PenguinsThe situation that may have called for fight more than any other was the return from the Olympic break. The Maple Leafs knew that to avoid selling at the trade deadline less than two weeks later, they had to come out hot.Instead, they lost their first six games after the Olympics. That's not a team with much fight in it.It can be tricky in these spots to know exactly who to blame. Is it the coach? Is it the players?…

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